I didn't like this quite as much as the first one - relocating much of the action to Moscow loses that lovely forest setting - but I'm still really enjoying the series. Vasya is still a fantastic character, as is her porridge-loving horse, but I'm less enamoured of the antagonist this time. Although that sounds wrong: he's awful, but the priest of the last book was really awful, the kind of small scale, selfish, weak awful that's so disturbing because it's so unfortunately realistic. He's back in this book, in what's not more than a cameo role, but the real threat here is from a more legendary or mythic figure, and the sense of revulsion is not the same. Kasyan's horrible, but he doesn't affect me in the same way.

What I really did like here was the sibling relationships between Vasya, Sasha, and Olga. The latter two, especially, are sad and horrified at what's become of their little sister, but they're angry too, which is realistic considering that her behaviour may have terrible consequences for them. As dismayed as they are, however, they clearly still love her, and I enjoyed the interactions between them all.